Our best dinners on the beachfront. So good we went twice. Thanked them for their safety measures too. So many great entrees we wish we had another night. Highly recommend.

I hate to do this but people need to know. We decided to go back after long time this past winter pre-COVID to change up a little our very limited rotation of fine dining joints. We got seated next to a large group of screaming...ladies, eventually we got relocated between two other groups of tourists one foot each side like we were all one large party of a dozen, no privacy whatsoever. Place was pretty busy and definitely under staffed with only two servers in sight, hostess and bartender in tshirt! No chef and no senior manager, the place was run by kids including the two young cooks, result cannot be fine dining and this is the outcome... Waited patiently 15 min for the server to show up, she greeted us with a charming: "Are you ready to order?", we said we would like some drinks (hoping it wasn't too much to ask) and we asked if there were any specials and she talks about beer... "we meant food darling" her answer a short NO! (Really?) We went on and ordered some appetizers. After 10 minutes she comes back and asks: "Do you want something to drink beside water?", I looked at her and said:"I thought we already ordered drinks to someone, wait ... that's you!" Don't really know if she was on something... Before our drinks came the appetizers: a spoonless french onion soup, yes I had to flag somebody down to get a spoon! Five small pieces of fried seafood just thrown on a plate without any green or sort of presentation, more like you would expect at Denny's, breading so hard and not very appetizing. Oven roasted broccoli rabe so charred that what was left was the inedible hard stems. Truffle french fries so overcooked (perhaps re-fried), hard and dry. We asked for the check (we laughed at a $2 charge for "special" tub water) and went to have our entrees elsewhere. That's all folks... I wouldn't really call it a fine dining experience!More

Very impressed with how they are managing the pandemic. Must wear a mask to enter, they will take your temperature and the tables well spread out and fans ventilating the patio. The service is excellent and the food incredible. The menu is a prix fixe...with a lot of choices, every thing was delicious and the portions appropriate. There is a 20% service charge that gets shared with the staff you can of course add more if you wish. I felt safe and would not hesitate to go back.More

During our trip to Virginia Beach, my husband and I ate at Terrapin Restaurant. This was during the pandemic, so the meal was a 3-course prix-fixe dinner. We had no trouble finding something delicious from the choices. The menu items were things we don’t typically...eat in Iowa, so we really enjoyed the variety of options. My summer salad was topped with a crispy poached egg, which was one of the best things I ate during my visit! We had the steak and the halibut entrees and finished our meals with the chocolate cake and apple tart. The service was excellent as well. It was just a lovely dinner all around.More

We went here for restaurant week and thought the food was good, although I can't say I was completely blown away by it. I would like to come back and try the main menu. The restaurant has nice decor and ambience, the service is good...although the took a while to get our drinks to us but were very apologetic and I think it was just a busy night.More

The food is farm to table. Interesting menu's and presentation is superb! You never wait long for your food and the atmosphere is lovely. This restaurant pays attention to detail !

General Description Driving down Baltic Ave in Virginia Beach one feels as if they are in a beach town with “beachy” feeling restaurants. One would last expect to drive up to Terrapin and have this type of fine dining experience in VA Beach. Entering the...parking lot and seeing the outside of this establishment you would not think the menu and wine list would be as refined as Terrapin’s. The outside of the restaurant was clean and crisp; a simple black cursive sign with the restaurants name and a small turtle in the bottom right hand corner. Walking in the front entrance you are immediately greeted by the hostess who asked to take your coat. The open kitchen concept was present on the right side of the entrance with cooks and chefs bustling around with the pass set as a bar style presentation. The hostess took us to our table near the back left corner of the main dining room. There were probably around 15 tables with partitions separating the bar area and the main dining. Booth seating was available for all patrons with chairs on the opposite side. The main dining was lit in a way of an old steakhouse but the white furnishings that they decorated the main dining area with lightened it up significantly, but tastefully. Terrapin Cuisine Terrapin is a contemporary, predominantly American cuisine that takes a modern twist on classic dishes. Depending on the season, the chef supports local farms and communities to cultivate new dishes. Once we were seated the waitress was already taking our drink order and chatting with us a little bit to understand a little more about us. They offer still or sparkling water from their in-house Vero purification machine. This purification system leaves virtually a zero carbon footprint. With our drink order away we had a chance to look over the menu. It was a simple landscape menu on elegant heavy weighted paper. Terrapin does have a happy hour that allows diners to order their homemade pasta dishes at a thirty percent discount and some of their more popular starters for about half the regular price. That happy hour is from five to six daily. The average price per person is around sixty dollars for a meal at Terrapin. The starters and salads on the menu range from the classic beef tartare, with a twist, and to the more eclectic foie gras torchon. Price ranges from eight to sixteen dollars. The entrees on the menu can be a difficult decision. They have homemade pasta dishes and “for the table” options. Most of the entrees and pastas are around an average of twenty-eight dollars. The more expensive items on the menu are the ribeye steak for two and the Ashley Farms whole chicken options. All of the dishes are a very good portion and worth the price point. We happened to order a starter, entrée and a “side” dish and we did not even have room for dessert, which we were sad about since they had creme brûlée and other various sweet treats. Overall I would recommend any tourist or resident to check out Terrapin. The service/cuisine is that of a Michelin Star restaurant. The care of the staff is phenomenal and the food is even better. Get the King trumpet mushrooms if they are on the menu and make sure you get a glass of my personal all time favorite wine, Bodegas El Nido "Clio". You don't see this bottle on many wine lists by the glass or even the bottle. The truffle mac and cheese is worth the visit alone. I will be back to try everything and anything the chef wants to put on the menu.More